OPINION, P8 COMPANIES, P6 Q4 PERFORMANCE Forget jobs, DBT, JDY, NHPS, Ujjwala, etc, will be Modi’s USP Getting ArcelorMittal to pay Uttam Galva's dues is a victory of the IBC process DIPLOMATIC SETBACK Seshagiri Rao-led JSW Steel’s net increases threefold EDITORIAL INTERNATIONAL, P14 North Korea says may reconsider summit with Trump KOLKATA, THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018 FOLLOW US ON TWITTER & FACEBOOK. APP AVAILABLE ON APP STORE & PLAYSTORE WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM VOLUME XXVII NO. 167, 20 PAGES, `6.00 (NORTH EAST STATES & ANDAMAN `10.00) P U B L I S H E D F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , B E N G A L U R U , C H A N D I G A R H , C H E N N A I , H Y D E R A B A D , K O C H I , K O L K ATA , L U C K N O W, M U M B A I , N E W D E L H I , P U N E READ TO LEAD SENSEX: 35,387.88 ▼ 156.06 NIFTY: 10,741.10 ▼ 60.75 NIKKEI 225: 22,717.23 ▼ 100.79 HANG SENG: 31,110.20 ▼ 41.83 `/$: 67.80 ▲ 0.31 `/€: 79.89 ▲ 1.07 BRENT: $77.90 ▼ $0.53 GOLD: `30,954.00 ▼ `388.00 BINANI CEMENT AT NCLAT ● JAYPEE INFRA CASE Will clear all dues: Binani Industries Seeks termination of resolution process; if allowed, will be a first for cases being resolved under IBC FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 16 FE BUREAUS Kolkata/New Delhi, May 16 Sebi proceedings against Mallya group firms closed BINANI INDUSTRIES (BIL) on Wednesday moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) offering to clear 100% of the claims of all creditors within two weeks if its subsidiaryBinani Cement wasbroughtoutofthepurview of the insolvency process. While scheduling a hearing on May 22, the appellate tribunal observed it would consider whether “the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) canrefusetheofferoftheshareholders of the corporate debtor if he intends to pay 100% of credit amount of creditors within two to fourweeks”. If Binani Cement is allowed to exit the corporate insolvency resolution process bypaying its dues,itwould be a first forcases undertheInsolvencyandBankruptcy Code (IBC). BIL holds a REGULATOR SEBI has closed its adjudication proceedings against three group firms of defaulter businessman Vijay Mallya for alleged disclosure lapses in a 17-year-old case citing liquidation of a holding company, but did not rule out any penal action at a later date, reports PTI. Sebi said it had observed certain noncompliances by three UB group companies while examining the letter of offer made by Zuari Fertilizers and Chemicals, along with other entities including United Breweries (Holdings), Kingfisher Finvest India and McDowell Holdings to acquire shares of Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers. Special Features India is the most important market for OnePlus As fans in India wait for the launch of OnePlus 6 today, general manager Vikas Agarwal says the smartphone brand plans to open premium offline stores across the country ■ eFE, P13 March 14: CoC approves Dalmia Bharat's `6,930 cr resolution plan The fight for Binani Cement March 19: UltraTech Cement inks pact to buy 98.47% from Binani Industries for `7, 266 crore in an outof-tribunal settlement March 27: Binani Industries moves NCLT seeking termination of insolvency proceedings against Binani Cement 2018 A DAY after the National Company Law Tribunal approved Tata Steel's resolution plan for taking over Bhushan Steel, a promoter of the debt-laden firm moved the appellate tribunal challenging the order, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. The NCLAT has listed the matter for hearing on Thursday. Neeraj Singal, the aggrieved promoter, had a 22% stake in the company, as on March, 2018. SC tells JAL to deposit `1,000 cr by June 15 The simplest and most effective way to use Tally on Mac is on a cloud. Tally on cloud does not suffer from performance lags nor does it stress your machine for disk space ■ Gadgets, P13 QuickPicks PNB market cap now smaller than that of RBL Bank’s WITH SHARES of Punjab National Bank (PNB) losing more than half their value since February, the state-owned lender now has a smaller market capitalisation than that of RBL Bank, reports Yoosef KP in Mumbai. On Wednesday, the market capitalisation of RBL Bank stood at `21,569 crore, `713 crore more than that of PNB, Bloomberg data show. The shares of the country’s second-biggest state-owned lender plummeted as much as 12.2% on Wednesday. PAGE 11 CAIT says Flipkart-Walmart deal circumvents laws Traders' body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday alleged that the $16billion Flipkart-Walmart deal circumvents laws, and said it will seek legal recourse on the matter, reports PTI. CAIT, in a statement, urged the government to conduct close scrutiny of the deal that it claimed will have greater ramifications on retail trade and the economy. Walmart has announced an acquisition of 77% stake in Flipkart in its biggest takeover till date. PAGE 15 UP sugar mills threaten to stop operations in 2018-19 THE `35,000-CRORE sugar industry in Uttar Pradesh is staring at a looming crisis, reports Deepa Jainani in Lucknow. The beleaguered industry, which is reeling under a record production on one hand and falling prices on the other, has decided not to run the mills in the forthcoming sugar season starting October. The sugar industry in UP engages almost 44 lakh farmer families and 2 lakh mill workers. PAGE 2 May 2: NCLT asks RP and CoC to consider the revised offer from UltraTech. It also offers Dalmia Bharat a chance to better its offer May 4: Dalmia Bharat moves NCLAT against May 2 NCLT order. It refuses to pass any interim stay order May 18: CoC slated to meet to discuss UltraTech's revised offer 98.4% stake in the near-bankrupt Binani Cement. The NCLAT bench on Wednesdayalsoaskedthecommittee of creditors (CoC) and the resolution professional to file their replies within five days.ItalsodirectedRajputana May 10: Dalmia Bharat moves SC, seeking a stay on NCLAT's May 4 order. SC rejects the plea Properties, a subsidiary of the Dalmia Bharat Group, whose bidforBinaniCementhadbeen earlier approved by the CoC, to fileaninterventionapplication to be heard in the matter. Continued on Page 2 TEETHING PROBLEMS ‘GSTN has stabilised, can’t fault Infosys’ FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 16 Want to run Tally ERP 9 on your MacBook? Here’s how to do it April 13: Binani Industries moves Supreme Court for termination of insolvency proceedings. SC refuses to interfere THE GOODS AND Services Tax Network (GSTN) — which handles a mammoth taxpayer base (over 1 core at last count) and over 50 crore invoices every month — was bound to have some “teething problems”, but the system has“stabilised”and has been working without any major glitches since December, its chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandeysaid onWednesday.The e-way bill mechanism to track movement of goods in the GST regime—whichhaslatelyseena near-pan-India roll-out — was runningsmoothlytoo,headded. The GSTN chairman’s comments at the Express Group’s Idea Exchange programme come at a time when it is faced withthetaskofrollingoutanew return-filing system, approved by the GST Council earlier this month.As an original system of comprehensive, triplicate returnswasfoundcumbersome by taxpayers, it has practically neverbeenimplementedinfull, and taxes are being paid with a summary return GSTR-3B.The proposednewreturn-filingsystemissaidtobesimplerthanthe original one with only one return per taxpayer a month. The taxpayer doesn’t have to evenfilethereturns;infact,she justuploadstheinvoicesandthe return is auto-generated. Replying to a question on whether GSTN’s service provider Infosys could be blamed for shortcomings, Pandey said: “In any large project,ifyouaredealingwithaservice provider, there will always be some problems.This is to be bilaterally resolved between GSTNandtheserviceprovider.” Continued on Page 2 Initially, many people were not familiar with the system so if a taxpayer did something wrong, there was no clarity on how to correct it. Of course, the system itself could have handled some problems in a different manner. —AJAY BHUSHAN PANDEY GSTN CHAIRMAN THE SUPREME COURT on Wednesday directed Jaiprakash Associates (JAL), the parent company of Jaypee Infratech(JIL),todeposit`1,000 crore by June 15 for refunding theirhomebuyers,failingwhich all the statutory proceedings will continue against the latter. However,it directed stay of the liquidationproceedingsagainst JIL as it realised that such proceedings“willnothelpanyone”. Resolution professional (RP) Anuj Jain has also been asked to continueinthemanagement,as perthe SC order. The stay order on liquidation and other statutory proceedings was necessitated in view of expiry of the statutory period of 270 days within which the RP should have finalised the resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India, 2016.WithWednesday’sorder, the RPand committee of creditors (CoC) of JIL, which is facing insolvency proceedings, can now ask the present three shortlistedbidders—Lakshadweep Investments & Finance (the highest bidder), the Adani Group and Cube Highways — to file revised bids so as to arrive at a viable resolution plan. As FE reported earlier, Lakshadweep, a joint venture between the Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha ARC and Dosti Realty,iswilling to hike its bid. Continued on Page 2 SHEPHERDING THE FLOCK: A bus waits outside the Karnataka Congress office in Bengaluru to carry its newly elected MLAs on Wednesday KARNATAKA PLAY Both stake claim, Cong-JD(S) waves Goa 2017 at governor KarnatakaAssembly. TheCongress-JD(S)alliance has asked the governor to call them to form the government following a Supreme Court order of March 2017 in the case of the formation of a government in Goa where two parties were called to the form the government instead of the single largest party. The BJP, which emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly in results declared on Tuesday, moved first on Wednesday to stake claim.The BJP held a 10-minute legislature party meeting where party president BS Yeddyurappa was elected as leader of the BJP in the legislature and thenrushedtoRajBhavanwith We told governor we must be called, said Yeddyurappa JOHNSON TA Bengaluru, May 16 POST-POLL ALLIES CONGRESSandJanataDal(Secular) officially staked claim before governorVajubhaiVala to form the next government in Karnataka with their combined 116 seats here on Wednesday shortly after the Bharatiya Janata Party approached the governorwith its claim to form thegovernmentwith104seats in the currently 222-member A matter of interest FE BUREAU Government bonds recovered following fresh demand from corporates and banks. The 7.17% security maturing in 2028 rose to `95.1050 from `95.0975, while its yield rose to as high as 7.94% intraday, the highest since May 2015, but ended stable at 7.90%. the signatures of its MLAs to stake a claim to form the next government. BJP leaders emerged smiling from the Raj Bhavan after meeting Vala at around 11.30 am.“Wehavegivenprooftothe governor and we said we must be called to form the new government,”Yeddyurappa said. “Our legislature party has elected me as the leader.I have asked the governorto allowme to take oath at the earliest. He said he would take an appropriate decision,”Yeddyurappa said after meeting the governor. BJP leaders said they were confident that they would get thefirstcallfromthegovernor. Continued on Page 2 ● BITTER ROW 7.420 ‘Minimal imports of sugar from Pakistan’ 7.065 FE BUREAU New Delhi, May 16 Bond yields jump before easing off 8.130 8.061 7.903 7.775 6.710 6.355 6.000 mate) allowed the government to curb the deficit,according to sources.The bulk of the spending cut came on the revenue front (about `79,000 crore), while capex too saw a marginal reduction (some `6,000 crore). The original (Budget estimate) of FY18 fiscal deficit was 3.2%. Net tax revenue stood at `12.52 lakh crore or 98.6% of the revised estimate of `12.69 lakh crore. THE GOVERNMENT ON Wednesday said India imported just 1,908 tonnes of sugarfrom Pakistan this fiscal, rejecting the opposition’s charges that the neighbouring country is dumping massive volumesofthesweetenerhere. Invalueterm,importsfrom Pakistan were to the tune of $0.657 million, the DirectorateGeneralofForeignTrade (DGFT) said. However, it’s not yet clear how much of sugar came via open general licence and how much through an advanceauthorisationscheme (AAS). Under the AAS, sugar is imported at zero duty for reexports after value addition. However, imports under the OGL are taxed at 100%. The government doesn’t resort to country-specific ban on supplies, as it would violate WorldTradeOrganisationrules. Continued on Page 2 Continued on Page 2 10-year bond yield (%) Dec 1, 2014 May 16, 2018 ● CENTRE’S FINANCES FY18 fiscal deficit at 3.42% versus RE of 3.5% PRASANTA SAHU New Delhi, May 16 THE CENTRE HAS contained its fiscal deficit for FY18 at 3.42% of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 3.5% estimated (RE) when Budget FY19 was presented on February1.An `85,000-crore (3.8%) reduction in expenditure from theRElevelof`22.18lakhcrore andamarginalupwardrevision in nominal GDP in the second advance estimate (the Budget relied on the first advance esti- Centre's fiscal deficit (% of GDP, FY18) 3.2 3.5 BE RE 3.42 Actuals (provisional) Deficit contained below RE declared on Feb 1 with over `85,000 cr (3.8%) cut in expenditure and some help from an upward revision in nominal GDP (second advance estimate) `29,000-CRORE BUSINESS In strike against strikes, Kerala to shield tourism industry from hartals M SARITAVARMA Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 CLOSE ON THE heels of hogging the headlines with a cheeky tweet on the Karnataka poll results and later quietly deleting it, Kerala Tourism has swung into action to insulate the state’s `29,000-crore tourism sector from political hartals (flash strikes and shutdowns). The idea is to ensure thatthesestrikes,whicharefrequent in the state,don’t hit the revenueofthegovernmentand the thriving private tourism industry. The tourism department’s tweet,whichhadgoneviralover the clever play on the topical resort-politics, said: “After the rough and tumble of the #KarnatakaVerdict,we invite all the MLAstounwindatthesafeand beautiful resorts of God’s Own Country.#ComeOutAndPlay”. “Its part of our campaign titled #ComeoutAndPlay and there’s nothing political about ILLUSTRATION: ROHNIT PHORE IN THE NEWS Bhushan Steel promoter moves NCLAT it,”quippedatopofficialofKeralaTourism,in a lightervein. In keeping with the playful air, the tweet went on to be retweeted, figured in news debates and was ‘liked’ by even Union ministers, till in an almost anticlimax the official handle of Kerala Tourism deleted it,without giving a reason. Meanwhile,onthesameday that the business-soliciting tweetwasdeleted,politicalparties in Kerala came out unani- mously in favour of preventing hartals from being a big party pooper for the tourism industry. In an unusual display of developmental zeal overpoliticalcolours,itwasinresponseto a call from the BJP’s Alphons Kannanthanam, Union ministerofstatefortourism,thatKerala chief minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan proposed that tourism should be given immunityfrom hartals. Continued on Page 2

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